Proposed FERRIES Act aims to help relieve service disruption

Published 1:30 am Tuesday, May 19, 2026

Kitsap News Group freelance reporter Mike De Felice headed to the nation’s capital to spend time with the 6th District’s U.S. Rep. Emily Randall (D-WA). The trip resulted in a three-part series. In this, the final installment, we look at a piece of proposed legislation the congresswoman supports, which is aimed at providing more federal funding to assist ferry systems, like Washington State Ferries.

Washington State Ferries and other ferry systems around the country need faster access to greater levels of federal funding to meet the demands of the traveling public and to upgrade aging maritime fleets, says the 6th District’s U.S. Rep. Emily Randall (D-WA).

To that end, the congresswoman helped author the Ferries Act, which is proposed federal legislation aimed at streamlining federal funding and expanding funding sources for ferry operations.

“This will dramatically expand funding opportunities for ferry systems across the country,” Randall said. “A lot of these are competitive grants, so I’m hoping that our state will be able to compete very strongly for a lot of that money. The state has been ponying up (funding), but can’t do it all. We deserve to have reliable transportation access. Ferries are our marine highways. But if the system doesn’t have reliable funding, then it’s hard for individuals to rely on it,” she said.

The push for the Ferries Act is timely, as the three ferry routes connecting Seattle to Kitsap County – serving Bremerton, Bainbridge Island, and Southworth – have experienced recent service disruptions, she said.

Maritime industry, labor groups, and individuals dependent on the ferry system across the country support the act and helped draft the legislation, Randall noted.

The legislation, which formally goes by the cumbersome title – the Federal Enhancement and Revitalization of Reliable Infrastructure for Essential Seaways (FERRIES) Act – has been introduced on the U.S. House floor and is awaiting attention by a transportation committee.

It is no surprise that Randall, who rode the ferry system growing up in Kitsap County, has been one of the primary proponents of the Ferries Act.

“Our ferries are a lifeline for communities,” the Port Orchard native said. “Anyone who lives in the county knows that the ferries have the potential to be a real connection – whether it’s visiting your grandma in a retirement community in the city or you have to go to see a specialist at the Hutch (Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center) or UW (University of Washington) or kids’ field trips. I can’t count the number of fieldtrips we took in elementary school on the Southworth ferry to go to the Seattle Science Center.”

​Since her years as a state lawmaker in Olympia, Randall has focused on funding state ferries. The act would change which ferry systems are eligible to apply for certain funds and allow WSF to apply for a wider range of funding.

“Part of the problem we face in Washington state is that our ferry system is both rural and urban,” she said. “There are some federal buckets of money that are only for rural or only for urban. Some of the definitions have precluded us from applying for some money that would be really beneficial to a ferry system like ours.”

Not surprisingly, WSF welcomes the legislation’s potential to open the doors to more federal revenue.

“With multiple needs in state transportation funding, federal dollars are helpful in supporting WSF’s operations and fuel purchases,” said Steve Nevey, the state Department of Transportation’s deputy secretary for WSF. “The act will allow WSF to apply for previously unavailable federal funding, which if granted, frees state funds for other uses.”

The next hurdle facing the Ferries Act is getting the legislation on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s schedule. “We are working with committee leadership to try and make it possible. We had some good signs from committee staff,” Randall said.

Ideally, the legislation will be incorporated into a larger legislative package that passes out of committee to the two chambers for consideration, Randall noted.

​Randall says she is hopeful the Ferries Act could be passed during this congressional session. If not, she said it will be reintroduced next year when the new Congress convenes.